Wednesday 26 February 2014

Cash-strapped council throws book at energy costs

Peterborough City Council hopes to save £163,000 a year by sprucing up the efficiency of a handful of its public sites including its library.

Councillors say the Cambridgeshire city faces a £19 million gap in its 2015/16 budget and it is currently looking at three renewable energy projects to drum up income.

The council said last week profits from the renewable energy parks could be used to "protect vital services from cuts".

Today it was announced the town hall, swimming pools and a car park are among the places getting upgrades under an energy performance contract with building technology firm Honeywell.

Revamps will cover building control systems, an air handling unit, lighting systems and pool filters to cut costs.

Staff will also be encouraged to adjust their behaviour by information “dashboards” at some of the sites.

John Harrison, Executive Director for Resources at Peterborough City Council said: “Implementing appropriate energy efficiency programmes using energy performance contracts enables us to benefit immediately from the improvements while using future, guaranteed operational savings to reduce capital budget requirements for maintenance and refurbishment.”

James Napier, Energy General Manager for Honeywell said: “With more contract awards anticipated in the future, this framework will help the Council to cut its energy bill and to reduce its carbon tax. The same framework is also available to other organisations and local authorities.”